This Week in SABR: June 3, 2011

Dennis Gilbert will be the featured speaker at the SABR 41 Awards Luncheon next month.

Gilbert has created one of the most varied careers in Major League Baseball. A Southern California product, he played two years in the minors before starting a highly successful insurance agency which catered to the entertainment industry. With these skills, Gilbert set out as one of the first of baseball’s super-agents, winning record-setting contracts for Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Danny Tartabull, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Ricky Henderson and Trevor Hoffman.

He has also raised millions for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities and for the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, which he created. In 2000, Jerry Reinsdorf recruited him to be his special assistant and Gilbert became a part-owner of the White Sox and a favorite for media speculation as a buyer of whatever teams are currently available.

The Awards Luncheon is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Friday, July 8 at the Long Beach Hilton in Southern California.

DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER! To register for the convention or any other events, visit the SABR Store. Please note that the hotel room rate of $119 will expire after June 13, so be sure to book your spot in Long Beach quickly if you haven't already done so. Registration forms (available for download here) must be postmarked by June 24 and sent to the SABR office at 4455 E. Camelback Road, Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018. Online registration for the convention will end at 11:59 p.m. MST on June 29.

Click the link above to read abstracts for the 10 poster presentations that will be available in the 2nd Floor General Area all week during SABR 41 on July 6-10 at the Long Beach Hilton in Southern California. The poster presentation judged to be the best will win the USA Today Sports Weekly Award.

Presenters will be with their posters, for questions and discussion, from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 9.

The BioProject, formed in 2002 and chaired by longtime SABR member Mark Armour, is an ongoing effort to produce comprehensive biographical articles on any person who ever played or managed in the major leagues, as well as other persons who touched baseball in a significant way. The primary goal is to enliven the people behind the statistical records that are so readily available.

The six bios posted Wednesday include a Hall of Famer, the son of a Hall of Famer, and a trainer:

Fifty members and guests of the Forbes Field Pittsburgh Chapter had a positively fun evening at PNC Park on May 21 as guests of the Pirates. A pre-game program included a Q&A session with GM Neal Huntington, a look at Pirates history from their second-longest-tenured employee, Patti Mistick, and a review of the statistical analysis the team does from its statistical analysis guru, Dan Fox.

It was a delightful evening, and the Pirates gave us first-class treatment all the way, including the buffet spread they laid out for us!

And then the team itself put the cherry on the sundae with that great 6-2 win before a sellout crowd on a gorgeous night.

The May 14 SABR Houston meeting was held inside the offices of the Houston Astros at Union Station adjacent to Minute Maid Park. Some 48 SABR members and friends attended, although some of our numbers may have been diverted to the wine and cheese function hosted by the Houston Astros in the same building.

Our meeting included five presentations, beginning with Houston Astros President of Baseball Operations Tal Smith and member Tony Cavender's book review of 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports. Former St. Louis Cardinal and Houston Buff player Larry Miggins delighted those in attendance with a recording of his musical tribute to Mark McGwire. Tim Gregg discussed our brand-new website at http://www.sabrhouston.org that he has developed. Bob Dorrill then outlined a proposal that has been sent to SABR National volunteering both the Larry Dierker and the Rogers Hornsby Chapters as hosts for the 2013 convention in Houston.

Twenty members were present for the May 23, 2011, monthly roundtable of the Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter at its usual location, The Original Crusoe’s, Osceola and Compton avenues in South St. Louis.

Lew Levey reported on his visit to the new SABR headquarters in Phoenix and said he thought the “Spartan” offices showed judicious use of SABR funds. His report overall was a favorable one of the new SABR office. Some members, however, were critical of the office move.

Loretta Donovan told members of the upcoming Shepard Barclay Tournament featuring local vintage baseball teams the St. Louis Perfectos and St. Louis Unions, to be held June 4-5 at Lafayette Park in South St. Louis.

Kris Lokemoen reported on the new book Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game, by Dan Barry. Chapter president Norm Richards reported on the new Stan Musial: An American Life, by George Vecsey.

David Matchett made a presentation on "Canadian Games Played Leaders by Position" and Maxwell Kates spoke about "Biographing the Miracle Mets", which will be the subject of his poster presentation at the SABR 41 national convention in July.